The day after my 47th birthday, I received the following email from Bonhams, the auction house hired to disperse the inventory of Serendipity Books, Inc.:

It seems that the family has gone for your bid. I think I can work out all the details next week and give you the ability to start as soon as possible.

Thirty-two words sealed what is by-far the biggest deal in the quarter-century of Eureka Books. The contract requires us to remove all the inventory and includes all the fixtures we want.

Next week in the email turned into next month while the lawyers worked on the contract. We got the keys on September 21, in the midst of a month of vacations at the store, which kept us in Eureka. Since then, we have only spent a few days at Serendipity. On October 7, we start work in earnest.